Revision as of 16:40, July 4, 2009

Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Massachusetts

The Holy Orthodox Church in North America (HOCNA) is an Old Calendarist jurisdiction formed initially within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, followed by a break with the GOA and a period within the ROCOR, followed by existence as an independent group. HOCNA is not in communion with any mainstream Orthodox church.

HOCNA today

The Holy Orthodox Church in North America is an Eparchial Synod with parishes and monastic communities in Canada and the United States, as well as Europe and Africa. Today HOCNA consists of nine monastic communities with a total of almost 100 monastics and 62 parishes with an estimated 6000 faithful. Their monastic communities are well known world wide for their incense, hand painted icons and mounted icon photographs, pure beeswax candles, vestments and clerical clothing. Also, since the founding of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, the brotherhood has dedicated themselves to producing translations of texts necessary for Orthodox Church life. Many books of the lives of the Saints and concerning matters of the Faith have been published. Especially, out of desire to benefit the Church, liturgical books of primary importance have been translated into English and published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery: A Prayerbook for Orthodox Christians, The Pentecostarion, The Great Horologion, the complete 12-volume set of The Menaion and The Psalter According to the Seventy. Some patristic works have also been translated and published, most notably The Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, and The Synodicon of Orthodoxy. HOCNA has published The Struggle Against Ecumenism, the most extensive history of the "True Orthodox Church" available in English[1] and also has published a series of tracts on the spiritual life, contemporary Church issues, and moral issues.

Hierarchs, Metropolises and Parishes

Today, HOCNA consists of Holy Transfiguration Monastery and an estimated 30 parishes throughout the United States and Canada, the most famous of which is St Nektarios American Orthodox Cathedral in Seattle, Washington[2]. Administratively, HOCNA is divided into 3 metropolises - Boston, Seatle, and Toronto. HOCNA has five hierarchs. All except one (Sergios) were monks at Holy Transfiguration Monastery for ten years or more.